Your web story ‘Best councils “penalised” by audit fee changes, says LGA’ included a misleading comment from the Local Government Association regarding the Audit Commission’s new scales of fees.
It was suggested that a ‘high-performing council currently able to negotiate a 30% reduction in fees’ might only be ‘able to negotiate a 20% reduction’ in future.
As we made clear in the published scales of fees, this isn’t true. The changes will not lead automatically to increases or decreases in audit fees for the bodies affected. Where it is justified, in terms of audit risk, it will be possible for the commission to determine a fee outside the range.
Martin Evans, Managing director, Audit Policy & Practice, Audit Commission